December 13, 2000
All Needs
Supplied - Guaranteed
You have been looking
for a position that pays well. You see an ad that says someone is looking for a person
with your qualifications. You call to inquire about the salary, and you learn that it is a
promise to supply all of your needs; that's all––"We will supply all your
needs, guaranteed!" Would you take the job?
What if the company had an impeccable reputation for reliability; then would you
take the job? Maybe you would ask some pertinent questions, like: Who would decide what my
needs are? or, What do you consider needs? or, What if I think they are needs and you
don't? There would probably be a lot of questions, and more than likely, when they had
been asked, you would say, "No, thank you, find someone else."Normally what we would consider needs would
relate to what our objectives were. If my objectives were simply to be comfortable, to
meet that objective I would need adequate food, a good fuel supply to keep me warm, enough
money to pamper myself a little, and a bank account standing by to purchase whatever I
thought I needed.If my objective were to be healthy, to meet that
objective I would need proper food, exercise, medication, medical care, maybe health
insurance and other related accouterments. Or perhaps I am young and invincible and I
don't worry about comfort or health or those things that old people worry about; my
objective is success, prestige, wealth and an early retirement. My needs, then, involve
education, money, promotions, and impressive transportation.All of the considerations we have discussed so
far have to do with the kind of thinking the world practices, "What do I need to
reach my objectives?" The whole idea of needs has to do with my own agenda, my
five senses and the things that relate to time and this present life. They do not
anticipate the abortion of this temporal life, or the eternal interruption of my agenda in
spite of the fact that many of us are members of families that have experienced premature
deaths. Therefore we understand that frequently the energy and time we put into acquiring
what we believe we need becomes moot. Suddenly we need an undertaker and a casket and a
burial plot. That, of course, is not something we like to think about, so we won't linger
there.However, here is something we have to think about
if we are going to have a realistic idea of what our needs really are, All
things were created by Him and for Him. Many of us are so tempted to be
preoccupied with our plans for our lives that we tend to forget that God has a prior plan.
His involves a much longer range––eternity. It won't be aborted or interrupted.
We forget that our agenda is meaningless if it is not the same as His.Here, then, is a relevant context in which to
consider the idea of what needs are. First of all, as has already been mentioned,
we were created by Him and for Him. We are not our own, we are bought with a
price. So we are exclusively His by virtue of both creation and redemption. Secondly,
"we know that all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them that are the called according to His purpose. For whom He did foreknow, He also
did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son…"Now that our perspective has been altered and we
can see our lives in the light of His agenda and not our own, we can ask ourselves,
"What are His objectives for my life?" because those are the objectives that
will determine my true needs. Well, according to the scripture we just read, His objective
is to conform us to the image of His Son. So what we really need is whatever He
determines it takes to reach that goal.However, because we have never been where God is
taking us, it is evident that we could not plan the course or the intermediate goals along
the way. We do not see ourselves as God sees us. There is no such thing as a 'self-made'
Christian. We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus. Some of our needs are obvious because they apply
to everyone, no matter what their objectives. Jesus addressed those things because they
are so basic that we are inclined to become preoccupied with them, thereby wasting time
and energy worrying about what God has already taken care of. We are confronted by what
Jesus said and have to decide whether we believe Him or not. Here are His statements:
"Take no thought for your life, what ye
shall eat or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body what ye shall put on. Is not the
life more than meat [food], and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air; for
they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father
feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?…And why take ye thought for raiment?
Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: and
yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
…Therefore, take no thought saying, What shall we eat? Or, What shall we drink? Or,
Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for
your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the
kingdom of God and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto
you." Matthew 6: 25-33
Transportation, too, is a major need in
our society. But then it always has been. Reading Paul's biography in the book of Acts
makes one realize that he was in almost constant motion, moving from city to city and
country to country; sometimes, it seems, at almost a moments notice. Fares for him and his
party were always available. Even though they were a major expense, and therefore a
significant amount of God's provision, their source is never discussed. It was part of
God's promised supply. After years of experiencing God's faithful care for such details,
Paul was able to assure the Philippian believers, "My God shall supply all your needs
according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus."But more important than all the tangibles that
God provides to sustain physical life and supply the needed amenities are the intangibles
that God uses to fine-tune the character. Jesus talks about the vine and its branches.
"I am the vine," He said, "and ye are the branches." The branches are
that part of the vine upon which it bears its fruit and it is important to the vine that
each of its branches bears the optimum amount. Therefore, Jesus said, "Every branch
in me that beareth fruit, [my Father] purgeth it, that it may bring forth more
fruit."Purging is a drastic operation. Go sometime to an
orchard and watch the farmer prune his trees. Watch the gardener prune his rose bushes.
Why are they cutting so much away? Some of what they are cutting off looks pretty good.
They are hurting the plant. But in fact, the operation will cause the plant to be more
productive than ever.Sometimes the need, as God sees it, is less, not
more. Sometimes we have a lack and our need is an addition. Sometimes we have a
superfluity and our need is a subtraction. But whatever our need, God has promised to
supply it. God alone is in charge. There are absolutely no second causes for anything that
transpires in a believer's life, either God did it or He allowed it; and it was always
with the view of accomplishing that conformity to the image of Christ.Perhaps our deformity of character is pride. Then
God sees one of our needs as that which will deal with the pride problem. It could be
humiliation or failure, poverty or physical impairment. We have examples of that in the
biography of the apostle Paul. He suffered all those things and receiving them as from the
hand of the Lord was able to say, "I glory in tribulation, I take pleasure in
infirmity, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's
sake."Paul recognized his own propensity to be
prideful. And God didn't cover for him, He had ways of dealing with that need, and He
allowed us to see it. Paul himself made sure that we didn't miss it. It was part of his
example. "Lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the
revelations," he said, "there was given me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger
of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure." II Corinthians
12: 7 Even what he called "the messenger of Satan" he received as from the
Lord.God is in charge, and Paul knew that and rested
in it. Job knew it too when it was his time to endure the dealings of God. Job was a
wealthy man with a large family, much property, cattle and many servants. God described
him as a righteous and upright man. But with God's permission Satan was allowed to test
Job's integrity. Satan slew Job's children, destroyed his herds and took away his health.
So grievous was his circumstance that his wife encouraged him to curse God and die. Job's
response to her was "should we receive good at the hand of the Lord and not receive
evil [at the hand of the Lord]?"At the end of Job's story he had maintained his
integrity before God and as a result of his experience he had a revelation of God that he
had not had before. He exclaimed, "I have heard of thee b y the hearing of the ear;
but now mine eye seeth thee." Then God restored his family and returned ten-fold all
that he had lost.God's intention was not to destroy Job; it was to
bless him with a revelation of himself. Job had known about God, but now he knew God.
God's intent was not to destroy Paul; it was to meet a need and conform Paul more nearly
to the image of Christ. And God's intention is not to destroy you and me; it is to conform
us to the image of His Son. He continually gives us everything we need. If we need food He
gives us food. If we need finances He gives us finances. If we need to deal with pride, or
with selfishness or any other trait that is hindering His purpose for our lives He deals
with it according to our need.
When we get the picture of how absolutely God
cares for us, and how thoroughly He meets our needs we will learn to trust Him in every
circumstance. Trusting Him we will rest in Him and our lives will reflect more and more
the image of Christ. People who see us will believe us when we testify that nothing can
pluck us out of His hand. Of all that the Father has given Him He has lost none, but will
raise it up at the last day. My God shall supply all of your needs according to His
riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
End